US Williams to start Canadian propylene plant in Nov

24 August 2001 23:11[Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (CNI)--US energy company Williams said Friday it will
start in November a new 73 000 tonne/year polymer-grade propylene
plant at Edmonton, Alberta using off-gasses from the nearby Suncor
oil sands project.

Mike Hantzsch, Williams' Calgary-based vice president for
business development, told CNI today that total investment
in the plant is some $250m (Euro272m), with full start-up scheduled
for 15 November.

He said Williams is examining the possibility of expanding the
facility.

The propylene output will be shipped via rail to the US Gulf
Coast where Williams has two buyers under contract, he said. Added
Hantzsch: "We are looking to expand on that."

The Williams project uses olefins-rich off-gases from
Suncor’s Fort McMurray oil sands field. The off-gases are
produced as a coker by-product in the conversion of bitumen into
lighter crude components, and were until now burned as fuel,
Hantzsch explained.

In a first step at Fort McMurray, Williams will extract and
recover in liquid form propane and heavier components from some
100m cubic feet/day of oil-sand off-gases, yielding some 13 500
bbl/day of natural gas liquids (NGL).

The NGLs are then shipped via pipeline to Williams’ new
facility in Redwater, near Edmonton, where in a 320 foot-tall
separation tower the propane and the propylene are separated,
yielding 73 000 tonne/year of polymer grade propylene, 7500 bbl/day
of propane, 4000 bbl/day mixed butene-butylene stream and 1000
bbl/day of condensate.

The project has an additional potential for expansion to recover
some 10 000 bbl/day of ethane-ethylene mix, Hantzsch noted. "We are
looking at the economics of that expansion as we speak," he said.
Preliminary engineering studies on the expansion are underway, he
added.

Williams Energy is headquartered at Tulsa, Oklahoma. Its
Canadian offices are at Calgary, Alberta.